City girl learns the hard way

This city girl has a lot to learn. Recognize this notorious trio? I do hope so, for your sake.

I have lived in an apartment building almost my entire life in New York City. I have never had to worry about such noxious weeds in my old Queens neighborhood or in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. These are the ones you encounter in the woods somewhere while hiking or camping. Right? Well, last Saturday I had the displeasure of meeting them right here, in of all places, my very own backyard.

There is a low wired fence between our house and the neighboring house that has been unoccupied for many, many years. That house, if you can call it that because it kind of looks like a shack, is all boarded up, and since there is no maintenance done, the backyard quite frankly looks like a jungle. I honestly don't know how anyone can get away with it and not get penalized.

Anyway, since it is not yet in our budget to replace this fence, I periodically have to go and remove the weeds that poke through and hang over the fence onto our property. I didn't think to wear gloves, so I just yanked them out. I innocently touched my face, neck and shoulder blade. Why? I had my hair pulled up, but the "fly-a-ways" brushed up against my skin, so I naturally smoothed them away from my face and neck. After I finished weeding, I noticed a dark, sappy residue that resembled pine tree sap on my hands. When I went in to wash my hands, I noticed that it wasn't coming off easily with just plain soap and water, so I used a scrub brush and worked really hard to remove it all.

The next day, I felt a little itchy, but since I normally have dry, sensitive skin, didn't think much of it. By the evening, my right eye was getting swollen. Went to bed, only to wake up the next morning with more swelling around the eye and most of my face. Large red blotches started to appear. Since it was hot that day and we hadn't yet installed the A/C, I thought it was sun poisoning or some other heat-related condition.

Well, I woke up on Tuesday with my right eye completely swollen shut and a super swollen face. My sunglasses didn't even fit because my face was so distorted. I grabbed Liam and marched over to my primary care physician. As soon as he saw me walk through the door, he told me to turn around and get myself to the hospital because it was too severe a reaction and that I needed to be treated at the ER. I drove to the doctor and then to the ER with one good eye. I never realized just how hard this would be, but I made it to the ER safely, with Liam in tow I might add, and was seen immediately. Thankfully, I was in and out in about an hour. They shot me up with a steroid and gave me a prescription for more steroids in tablet form to take at home along with an antibiotic. I was instructed to take Claritin during the day, Benadryl at night, smooth on hydrocortizone cream on my face and Calydryl clear on all other affected areas (namely: my neck, shoulder blade, ears, forearm, feet, and the three fingers on my right hand). I wash thoroughly with Tecnu on the really ugly parts and my usual all-natural calendula body wash on the rest of the affected skin. I also found that I had to take Tylenol for the throbbing pain. We installed the A/C that night and I pretty much sat in front of it and a fan the whole time. The steroids have kicked in slowly and my eye is only just slightly puffy today. The rest of me is still pretty much one huge ugly mess.

Needless to say, sleeping has been challenging this week, but the real heartbreaking part is not being able to hug, kiss or snuggle as needed. If Bill or Liam accidentally touch me, I remind them to immediately scrub their hands with hot soapy water. We sleep head to toe to make sure, we don't touch. All in all, this has been an experience I will never forget. I will never forget to put my gardening gloves on and keep them handy every time I need to work in the backyard. I will never forget to look at these pictures so I become completely familiar with them and recognize these poisonous weeds when I encounter them.

"Leaves of three, let them be." Ha! I guess I needed a little more info than just that little rhyme. Watch out for a stem with three leaves because it could be poison ivy or poison oak.

Just in case, here is another look. Beware and please engrave these images into your head.